As a family of 4, it’s fairly easy to secure one room with two beds.  Once your family size is 5 or more, you technically need to book two rooms at hotels.  Now this may vary from hotel to hotel, brand to brand, but generally speaking – you’ll need to fork up the additional cash – or points – for that second room.  When we added a little one to our family two years ago, the struggle got very real.  I had to change my award travel strategy, as now I was using points and miles for 5.  Here’s my take and experience on booking lodging for our family trips.

When traveling together we generally stay at Hyatt properties or an Airbnb, depending upon what works best.  I love the World of Hyatt program because it offers the most feasible award rates when compared to the Marriott or Hilton hotel brands, and has family-friendly accommodations such as the family plan discount rate (not available at every property).  As a The World of Hyatt Credit Card holder, I also get an annual free night, and there’s also the Hyatt Brand Explorer award I can earn to receive an additional free night.

So how do I decide what type of lodging to book?  It comes down to location, availability, and price v. points out-of-pocket comparison.  Let me explain.  I have generally started with asking Hyatt if they have the family plan discount rate available at the property I am looking to stay at.  The rate is applicable towards children 12 and under – while I have heard that it could go up until age 18, my experience has only been for up to age 12, as my oldest is now 13.  Also, for the second room, I still need to budget paying ½ off the going cash rate.  This is where location and availability also come into play.

When we went to the Bahamas, they had one Hyatt property – Grand Hyatt Baha Mar.  (You can read my thoughts on the property and overall stay here.)  We had accrued the points prior to booking and I had already decided that we were going to stay here.  They had the family plan discount rate available, and so we booked 2 rooms.  The first room was on points, the second room was ½ off the going cash rate at time of booking.  For this stay, using this rate worked best – we stayed on property, in two connecting rooms.  Our room had one king size bed, and was spacious enough to accommodate our little one’s playpen in one corner.  Our older two kids were in an adjacent room with two queen beds.  With older kids (ages 13 & 10), we definitely appreciate the additional bathroom when traveling.

Prior to this fall break vacation, we visited Seattle in late July of 2022.  We stayed in a suite at Hilton Motif Seattle; it was formerly Motif Seattle and used to be a part of the Hyatt hotel collection.  Seattle was a pitstop on our way to Vancouver, where we would be staying in an Airbnb.  Again, I had allotted for the points needed, and didn’t want to spend additional out of pocket.  Plus, we wanted to stay downtown so we could walk around Pike Place Market during our short stay there.  I should add that I did reach out to the hotel prior, asking if the 5 of us could stay in one suite.  Because it was a larger space, and our little one would be in a pack and play, they allowed it.  The suite had 2 beds, one bathroom, and a living area with a sofa and dining table.  While we always appreciate additional bathrooms, this suite worked well for our 3-night stay in Seattle – and we managed.

This coming March, we will be visiting Manchester on our way to London.  We actually fly into Manchester from Houston, and then will be visiting London for the week of our kids’ spring break vacation.  In Manchester, we will be staying for 2 nights at Hyatt Regency Manchester.  They had the family plan discount rate available, so I booked 2 rooms here for the weekend.  (At the time of booking, my daughter was at the cusp of turning 13.  I was honest about this when calling the Hyatt customer service line – and the agent on the line allowed me to book two rooms using this rate.  Honesty is definitely the best policy! ;))  For our stay in London, I booked an Airbnb because after months of searching and planning, this is what worked best – an out of pocket cost that yes, we would need to allot for.

In May, we’ll be staying in an Andaz suite at the Andaz 5th Avenue when we visit New York after the school year ends for our older two children.  Frankly speaking, I did not want to stay in an Airbnb, and wanted to stay in Manhattan so we could limit transit time.  Every Hyatt property I looked at in the vicinity was requiring more points for two hotel rooms than the one suite I ended up booking.  While 172,000 points is definitely not easy to fork over, location and proximity to everything we want to visit/see/do was key in deciding where to stay this trip.  And let’s not forget availability as this is right at the beginning of summer!  (As a reminder, I always reach out to the hotel first asking if they will allow 5 individuals in a suite.)

Where we stay when traveling depends on where we are going, what’s available, and what will work best overall in our points and cash allowances – and as seen above, for each trip it’s different.  We’re also open to Airbnbs because we get more space and a kitchen – something that’s been very helpful for us with a little one.  I’m not sure how long we will be allowed to stay in one hotel suite as our little one (now 2) gets older – but I’m definitely going to try to always book one room/suite first, before trying to fork over additional points for two rooms.  The hotel game certainly changes once you become a family of 5 or more – the struggle is very real!

 

Picture: March 2022, Arenal Volcanco, La Fortuna, Costa Rica